Thursday, December 28, 2017

Fallout Gaming and Purpose Win Entertainment Limited (PWEL) are ready to kick off 2018 with the biggest DotA 2 (Defense of the Ancients 2) Major in the Philippines, Galaxy Battles II: Emerging Worlds. Sixteen teams from all over the world will square off for a total prize pool of USD 1,000,000.00. The event will take place from January 19th – 21st, 2018, at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.

The first Galaxy Battles took place in June 2017, to a sold-out crowd at the Shenzen Bay Sports Centre, in Shenzen, China. Eight teams went head-to-head in a series of round robin matches for the chance to win a total prize pool of USD 150,000.00. In the end, it was Team Newbee that took home the victory and the distinction as the first-ever Galaxy Battles champion.

Discover why the Bellas stick together like sisters and the secret to their incredible chemistry with the release of “Pitch Perfect 3: A Look Inside” featurette.Now graduated from college and out in the real world where it takes more than a cappella to get by, the Bellas return in Pitch Perfect 3, the next chapter in the beloved series that has taken in more than $400 million at the global box office.

All PSBank branches will be closed on January 1, 2018, New Year’s Day.

Meanwhile, all our 613 ATMs will be online and PSBank Mobile and PSBank Online (Internet banking) facilities will be available for your banking needs.

Further, please take note of the following:

Payroll

All payroll crediting on Jan. 1 will proceed.

Automatic Debit Agreement

For bills payments, accounts with due date on Jan. 1will proceed.

For PSBank loans, payments will be value dated on its original due date and accounts will be debited onJan. 2.

Accounts not debited on Jan. 1 due to insufficient funds should be funded by Jan. 2 to avoid penalties.

Check clearing and settlement

Clearing will be suspended on Jan. 1 and 2 (special non-working holiday for government employees). Checks received after cut-off time on Dec. 29 and checks received on Jan. 2 will be processed on Jan. 3.

No penalties will be charged for checks dated Jan. 1 and 2, intended for PSBank loan payments.

In addition to its complimentary inflight service and hospitality offering, Etihad Airways has introduced a selection of inflight products aimed at enhancing the travel experience and providing more choice for its guests in Economy Class. The items are available for purchase at attractive prices on a selected number of routes to and from Abu Dhabi.

Linda Celestino, Vice President Guest Experience and Delivery, said: “Etihad Airways is always looking at new ways to give our guests more power and control over their experience, through options to customise and personalise their journey.

Power, fame, and glamour we, the commoners, can only dream of living the life of the most esteemed family in the United Kingdom. Possessing a regal title, however, comes with the obligation to follow certain codes of conduct.

Of course, there have been instances when royals have deviated from such guidelines, like wearing fur, eating shellfish, or being touched by non-royals all of which are prohibited. Nevertheless, anyone who fancies marrying someone from the British crown family must learn these protocols as part of proper decorum.

Recent history can testify that marriage into royalty isn’t impossible, like Prince William’s wedding with Princess Catherine (née Middleton) and Prince Harry’s current engagement with American actress Meghan Markle.

For those who believe they have what it takes to become royalty through marriage, we list below some rules of etiquette to which the Queen’s family must adhere.

Bows and Curtsies

Greetings need not be complicated. In formal events, ladies greet with a little curtsy: one foot behind the other followed by a quick bob at the knee and a slight bow of the head. Gents only have to bow briefly from the neck. Deep curtsies and long pauses, however, show great respect especially when meeting the Queen.

Vivo opened its newest service center last December 15 at the SM City North EDSA. Vivo, which was first introduced in the Philippines in March 2016 has proven itself to be one of the fastest phone brands to gain popularity in the country with now 1.1 million Filipino users. In less than two years, Vivo is able to establish itself as the Philippines’ third top smartphone brand with 11 service centers around the country in total with 10 more center expected to open in 2018.

For every Filipino, the Holiday Season is a time for connecting with family and friends. Those of us who work abroad try to make it home for the holidays, and it seems that every barkada, organization, or office has its own party.

This year, let another player join the happy holiday fray: Jameson Irish Whiskey, the leader of the remarkably fast growing Irish whiskey market. The iconic brand is now making headway as one of the drinks of choice at holiday parties, especially those organized by the big boys.

SM Supermalls will surely have the entire family entertained this Christmas season, not only with their dazzling Disney-themed centrepieces, but also with exciting activities for the whole family to enjoy in all of its 67 malls across the Philippines!

Start off with SM’s line up of Pyromusical Shows and Grand Christmas Parades in selected SM malls. While bright pyrotechnics converge with chart-topping hits during the fireworks displays, life-sized toy soldiers, ballerinas, holiday mascots and more take center stage in the mall parades. Better get your cameras ready to capture the magical fireworks and true-to-life characters!

The holiday season is a time for giving. For celebrity chef Rolando Laudico or Chef Lau for short, giving means preparing a home-cooked meal a seven-to-ten course meal at that!

As one of the foremost names in the local culinary scene, Chef Lau is known as an extraordinary cook, a creative restaurateur, and a rock star in and out of the kitchen. Despite the busy season for his catering and restaurant businesses, he makes sure to give his loved ones a gift that’s extra special. “I usually host the Christmas Eve dinners, and if we’re home, the New Year’s Eve dinners for my family at our place,” he says. “I basically cook everything! Instead of giving them individual gifts, that’s my gift for all of them.”

Hunger never goes on holiday. That’s why Yellow Cab Pizza Company is fueling this generation’s legendary appetites during the lull between Christmas and New Year’s with two Hungry Holiday Treats exclusive to the season.

Unlimited Pizza

For people whose hunger is absolutely unstoppable, Yellow Cab is bringing back its legendary Unlimited Pizza offering for two days this December 28 to 29. Dine-in customers can choose between two fan-favorite flavors to go wild on for just P299 per head:

Hawaiian

#4 Cheese

Each order comes loaded with unlimited Mountain Dew, and is available in all Yellow Cab branches nationwide except NAIA 3, KidZania, Brent, MOA Arena, Camaya Coast, and delivery-only stores in Dona Soledad, Caloocan, and Pritil. Diners have two full hours from the time they pay to wolf down all the pizza they want.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Youth
Co:Lab will drive social innovation and entrepreneurship to address the unemployment
challenges faced by young people in the region

A regional program
that targets social challenges and unemployment by harnessing youth leadership,
entrepreneurship and innovation was launched by the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) in partnership with Citi Foundation.

The global youth
unemployment rate is currently over 13 percent*, that is about 71 million young
people, aged 15 to 24, are unemployed worldwide and about half of these live in
Asia Pacific.

In addition, the
Global Youth Survey 2017: Economic Prospects & Expectations study commissioned
by Citi Foundation found that of the 7,000 respondents polled, 69% had dreams
of starting their own business but only 44% were trying to do so, citing a lack
of education and skills and concerns of failure.

GEM, your destination for the latest in Japanese entertainment, and SKYcable bring you the Same Time As Japan drama ‘Kiss that Kills’ starring Kento Yamazaki. Meet him in person in an exclusive fan meeting in Hong Kong on January 21, 2018.

The highly kinetic and global hit YA book-to-movie series “Maze Runner” comes in full circle in the final chapter “Maze Runner: The Death Cure” where the Gladers have finally caught up in the reality of their nightmare. Reprising their roles in the concluding saga are Dylan O’Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario, Rosa Salazar, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen and Patricia Clarkson.

Learn a new hobby in The Ryuo’s Work is Never Done!, find new romance in KARAKAI JOZU NO TAKAGI-SAN, and form bonds with new friends in Elegant Yokai Apartment Life!The Ryuo's Work is Never Done!16-year-old Yaichi Kuzuryu is the strongest Shogi player in history, who holds the top title of “Ryuo” (Dragon King). One fateful day, the Shogi-loving elementary school student Ai Hinatsuru suddenly appears before him, claiming that he once promised to be her master. Yaichi has totally forgotten about this promise, but through their interactions, he will soon discover her potential for the game and also reignite his own passion that made him a Shogi master. The Ryuo's Work is Never Done! premieres January 8, Mondays at 11PM, same day as Japan, first and exclusively on Animax.

Sports personality and TV host Gretchen Ho and singer and theater Actress Tippy dos Santos, both World Vision Ambassadors, surprised AirAsia passengers when they promoted the “See the World” Christmas project of AirAsia and World Vision during a recent flight to Bohol.“See the World” is a partnership between AirAsia and World Vision to create awareness and raise funds for the education of underprivileged children across the country.

Christmas is here! You might have just received your bonus already, and now you’re just too excited to spend it on this and that, go on a shopping spree, or give gifts to your family, friends, or even to random people – sounds good, because you have a lot to spend so you won’t end up broke this season, right? NOT. The truth is, you can’t truly spend just enough without a plan.So, how do you plan it out? Perhaps you’ve been reading too many budgeting tips since the –ber months started, so you might have noticed by now what they have in common. If you’re trying to come up with a Christmas spending strategy, but you’re flooded with the hundreds of advices that you don’t know what to follow anymore, go back to basics and keep it simple. Make your funds work with you with these five straightforward tips.

Monsanto Philippines’ employees recently visited Elsie Gaches Village in Alabang, Muntinlupa City to bring Christmas gifts to its residents and engage them in joyful activities. The facility is the country’s largest shelter for orphaned children and adults with development disorders or disabilities. Over 150 residents of Elsie Gaches Village joined the program organized by the Monsanto employees.

Corporate Engagement Lead Charina Garrido Ocampo said: “Concern for others and sharing are part of Monsanto’s company culture. Together with our local partners, we develop programs that allow us to give back to various communities where we are present -- like building schools and housing infrastructure, providing financial literacy to women farmers, and educating the youth about agriculture and biotechnology.”

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Are you looking for a new place to enjoy with your loved ones this Yuletide season? Head straight to One Mall Valenzuela, a newly opened commercial center in Valenzuela City where you can enjoy the overall experience of recreational shopping. A contemporary urban park with a stacked terrace structure and open plazas, One Mall Valenzuela is your one-stop spot to shop, dine, and unwind, thanks to its retail mix of establishments that include Savemore, Robinson’s Handyman, Robinson’s Appliances, Daiso, Jollibee, Chowking, E-Home, Security Bank, Penshoppe, Paris Salon & Spa, Giligan’s, Kremistry, Tom’s World and The Sky Theater, the first and only premiere theater in Barangay Gen. T. De Leon in Valenzuela City.

New year is
for new beginnings! A professional villain teams up with a girl his polar
opposite in May I blackmail you?. A player who doesn’t believe in love gets
to relive the final week of his life over and over in Kiss that Kills. Finally,
two people broken by their experiences get a second chance at building a real
family in anone.

May I blackmail you?

Senkawa Kanji (Dean Fujioka) is a
“professional villain” who takes on cases that the police or private
investigators cannot handle. He solves cases by blackmailing people to get the
answers or clues that he needs. In one of such cases, he meets Mio (Emi Takei),
a wealthy university student who has a heart of gold. How will this highly
unusual pair work together to solve the cases?

May I blackmail you? premieres January 2,
Mondays and Tuesdays at 9PM.

Set in Spain, the delightful movie “Ferdinand” tells the remarkable story of a gentle bull, voiced by John Cena, a gentle giant who prefers flowers to fighting and has no desire to face off against matadors in the bullring. It follows Ferdinand as he embarks on a thrilling, dangerous and fun-filled journey to find love, acceptance and a real home. ‘Home’ is also the title of the new song from Jonas, about the place where people (and bulls) can relax and be themselves.

From the award-winning Blue Sky Studios, “Ferdinand” was directed by Carlos Saldanha. Based on the classic 1936 children’s book of the same name, by author Munro Leaf and illustrator Robert Lawson, the film also stars Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon as the voice of Lupe the goat.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

KidZania Manila invites everyone to “Spark Kindness” and give love in ways big and small while enjoying the Christmas festivities at the country’s premier play city this December.

Visitors get to do special activities this month at KidZania, like make holiday cards at the Art and Design Academy, record their own version of ABS-CBN’s latest station ID “Just Love Ngayong Christmas” at the Music Studio, or engage in acts of goodness through its special “Spark Kindness” campaign.

Besides the phenomenal “Game of Thrones,” HBO’s roster of notable shows across genres have captivated Filipino viewers proving that HBO has become part of their entertainment fix through the years.

In the Philippines, HBO was made more accessible to Filipinos through cable by SKY. Because of SKY and HBO’s shared vision to make home entertainment memorable for Filipinos, SKY continues to make HBO shows accessible anytime, anywhere through streaming via HBO GO using any One SKY plans (all-in-one cable, internet, and video-on-demand bundles).

“Solid HBO fans in the Philippines are able to enjoy HBO’s world-class content because of SKY’s partnership with HBO and we look forward to bring more great HBO shows closer to Filipinos through television and online in the future,”SKY president and COO March Ventosa said.

Yellow Cab Pizza Co., famous for its generous 18” New York-style pizzas, takes a step further on fueling not only people’s physical hunger, but also their hunger for greatness. The brand recently announced the top twenty recipients of the Yellow Cab Hunger grant, each receiving P20,000, in support of their continuing passion project.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Make your little one’s birthday celebration even more lovely and memorable with the newest and cutest addition to the Jollibee Kids Party themes – Hello Kitty Fun Carnival.

This adorable carnival theme,inspired by the sweet and beloved kawaii character, comes complete with langhap-sarap food, games and entertainment, awesome prizes and party favors,and a delectable birthday cake. Let your kids experience wonder like no other as they imagine a magical carnival with thrilling rides and colorful surroundings through the party’s carnival-inspired decorations, games, activities and production numbers.

Monday, December 18, 2017

The game has changed, but the legend continues in Columbia Pictures’ upcoming action - adventure “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” (in Philippine cinemas January 8.)In the brand new adventure “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”, starring an all-star cast – Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Karen Gillan four unlikely friends get sucked into the perilous world of Jumanji, and are transformed into avatars with unique skills. They’ll have to go on the most dangerous adventure of their lives, or they’ll be stuck in Jumanji forever…

The State of Qatar celebrated its National Day a week in advance last December 11, 2017, at Makati Shangri-La Hotel, to commemorate its First Ruler, Sheikh Jassim Bin Mohamend Bin Thani, with the theme of ‘Promise of Prosperity and Glory’.

The reception was attended by foreign dignitaries and government officials such as Sec. Delfin Lorenzana, Chief Legal Counsel Sal Panelo, Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano, among others.

BGC gives back Fort Bonifacio Development Foundation, Inc. — the social responsibility arm of Bonifacio Global City recently led BGCitizens and volunteers in painting a colorful mural and brightening up a classroom in BGC’s adopted school, Gat Andres Bonifacio High School.They also spent time with the kids of Taguig (tagged as the ‘Bonibulilits’) for rounds of storytelling sessions, art workshops, quiz shows, games, presentations, and a tour at The Mind Museum. In partnership with Daiichi Properties, such initiatives aim to get the public involved in passionate pursuits that reach out to the Taguig community for inclusive growth and development.

Packing is hard enough, but thinking of allocating space for the gifts you’ll buy for your loved ones is another issue. To add, you still have work to worry about, bringing with you a laptop, tablet, among your other gadgets that add a lot to your load. With the holiday rush happening all around, bulky gear will just slow you down.

Now, you can experience the magic of moving light with the Samsung Galaxy Book, the amazing device that combines the best features of a tablet and a laptop. Reflecting Samsung’s philosophy of making innovation truly meaningful with devices that enhance and empower individuals, the Galaxy Book can easily transform from a tablet into a laptop and vice-versa, giving you the flexibility and freedom to move without being burdened by heavy gadgets.

As the years go by, emerging technologies are imminently shaping the future, subsequently affecting the overall human experience in all aspects of life and civilisation. This was evident in a human machine partnerships research led by Dell Technologies and Institute for the Future (IFTF) that saw the impacts and implications of technologies on society and on the workplace.

The research forecasted that the economic ecosystem entering the next era of human machine partnership, and that between now and 2030 humans and machines will work in closer concert with each other, transforming the lives of everyone.

Humans have worked with machines for centuries, but this entirely new phase is characterized by even greater efficiency, unity and possibility than ever before. Emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and advances in Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing - made possible through exponential developments in software, analytics, and processing power - are augmenting and accelerating this direction. Given this dizzying pace of progress, Dell Technologies shares a look at what’s coming down the pike next.

Prediction 1: AI will do the ‘thinking tasks’ at speed

Over the next few years, AI will change the way how time is spent for acting on data. Businesses will harness AI to do data-driven “thinking tasks” for them, significantly reducing the time they spend scoping, debating, scenario planning and testing every new innovation. The APJ region, emerging as the leader in innovation in artificial intelligence, will start to see real examples of these benefits becoming a business reality.

Some theorists claim AI will replace jobs, but it may also create new ones, unleashing new opportunities for humans. There will be a new type of IT professional focused on AI training and fine-tuning. APJ will become the home of these skills, with AI dominating the skillsets of future talent. AI’s thinking tasks will be prominent in healthcare, agriculture and financial services. The challenge will be for organizations to prove the business value of AI technologies and make sure they have the right infrastructure and talent in place.

Prediction 2: Embedding the IQ of Things

Starting in 2018, great strides will be taken in embedding near-instant intelligence in IoT-enhanced cities, organizations, homes, and vehicles. Humans will evolve into ‘digital conductors’ of the technology and environments surrounding us. Technology will function as an extension of ourselves. Every object will become smart and enable us to live smarter lives.

APJ is ground zero for IoT innovation and implementation. Investments are increasing and factors like government initiatives and 5G advancement are driving forces – markets like Japan, South Korea, Singapore and ANZ stand out for their readiness because of these factors. However, barriers to IoT success are consistent globally: collaboration will be needed to overcome barriers like inconsistent standards, and a fragmented technology landscape, and the need to ready infrastructure.

Prediction 3: We’ll don AR headsets

It also won’t be long until the lines between ‘real’ reality and augmented reality begin to blur. AR at work will bring together people and humans, allowing people to interact with data in ways they never have before. APJ will be the test bed for these applications, as it starts its journey to dominating AR innovation and application.

VR will undoubtedly transform the entertainment and gaming space in the near term, thanks to the immersive experiences it affords, but smart bets are on AR becoming the de facto way of maximizing human efficiency and leveraging the ‘tribal knowledge’ of an evolving workforce.

Prediction 4: A deeper relationship with customers

Dell Technologies’ Digital Transformation Indexshows that 52% percent of businesses in the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region think they may become obsolete within 3-5 years and 83 percent feel threatened by digital start-ups. It’s never been more important to put the customer experience first.

Over the next year, with predictive analytics, machine learning (ML) and AI at the forefront, companies will better understand and serve customers at, if not before the point of need. APJ consumers are already demanding: digitally-savvy and embracing mobile-driven interactions, they are also adopting technology driven interactions like alternative payment methods. In fact, much of the innovation in payments on a global scale is being driven by industry leaders in this region, and consumer demand for this will increase exponentially. 2018 will see brands being pushed to meet those consumer expectations.

Prediction 5: Bias check will become the next spell check

Over the next decade, emerging technologies such as VR, AI, will help people find and act on information without interference from emotions or external prejudice, while empowering them to exercise human judgment where appropriate.

In the short-term, AI will be applied to hiring and promotion procedures to screen for conscious and unconscious bias. Meanwhile VR will increasingly be used as an interview tool to ensure opportunities are awarded on merit alone; for example, by masking a prospective employee’s true identity with an avatar.

In 2018, a vast number of e-sports players will be sitting behind screens or wearing VR headsets to battle it out in a high-definition computer-generated universe. As hundreds of millions of players and viewers tune-in, e-sports will go mainstream. APJ is already on the way to realizing this change, as we head towards the 2022 Asian Games where e-sports will be a medal event. China, Hong Kong and South Korea are already making headway with events and investments. Singapore is also setting its sights on home-grown e-sports professionals with a training academy for future e-sports champions.

In the future, every business will be a technology business, and our leisure time will become a connected experience.

Prediction 7: We’ll journey toward the “mega-cloud”

In 2018, businesses are overwhelmingly moving toward a multi-cloud approach, taking advantage of the value of all models from public to private, hosted, managed and SaaS. However, as more applications and workloads move into various clouds, the proliferation of cloud siloes will become an inevitability, thus inhibiting the organization’s ability to fully exploit data analytics and AI initiatives. This may also result in applications and data landing in the wrong cloud leading to poor outcomes. APJ organizations will still be challenged to address their infrastructure to address immediate challenges but still have to keep a view of future applications.

The “mega cloud” will then emerge, which will weave together multiple private and public clouds to behave as a coherent, holistic system with a federated, intelligent view of an entire IT environment. Multi-cloud innovations in networking (to move data between clouds), storage (to place data in the right cloud), compute (to utilize the best processing and acceleration for the workloads), orchestration (to link networking, storage and compute together across clouds) must be created to make the mega cloud possible, and, as a new opportunity, customers will have to incorporate AI and ML to bring automation and insight to a new level from this next generation IT environment.

Prediction 8: The year to sweat the small stuff

In this increasingly interconnected world, reliance on third parties has never been greater. Organizations are highly interconnected systems that exist as part of something even bigger—the ripples of chaos spread farther and faster now that technology connects us in astonishing ways.

Due to the increasingly interwoven relationship between humans and machines, small subtle failures can lead to mega failures. Hence, next year will be a year of action for multinational corporations, further inspired by the onslaught of new regulations such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which will impact organizations across APJ. Prioritizing the implementation of cybersecurity tools and technologies to effectively protect data and prevent threats will be a growing imperative. APJ organizations will be driven to increase security budgets, and will also look at business-wide efforts such as employee awareness. IoT security will also to make it to the top of the list of security spend priorities in the region, to address potential issues from edge to core to cloud as innovation in IoT picks up pace.

About Dell Technologies

Dell Technologies is a unique family of businesses that provides the essential infrastructure for organizations to build their digital future, transform IT and protect their most important asset: information. The company services customers of all sizes across 180 countries – ranging from 98 percent of the Fortune 500 to individual consumers – with the industry’s most comprehensive and innovative portfolio from the edge to the core to the cloud.

About Me

One who loves food and know if it's worth your hard earned money
For my readers.. if you have some food or delicacy you would like for me to try out... please shell out your ideas and I'll try my best to give it a fair review. For restaurant reviews... and if you want to be featured on this site, we have food group bloggers interested to cover and promote your products and give reviews as well.... just treat us to a meal.. and we would gladly oblige. Shoot us an email at abetstone@hotmail.com for product reviews, product launches, hotel reviews, and everything else under the sun

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